A same-sex couple traveling on a double-decker bus in London say they were beaten bloody by four men after they refused to kiss in front of them.
Melania Geymonat, who is 28, told BBC News she experiences “a lot of verbal violence all the time,” but has never been physically attacked for being gay.
“There were at least four of them,” Geymonat wrote about the May 30 hate crime on her Facebook page on Wednesday, calling it “CHAUVINIST, MISOGYNISTIC AND HOMOPHOBIC VIOLENCE.”
“They started behaving like hooligans, demanding that we kissed so they could enjoy watching, calling us ‘lesbians’ and describing sexual positions,” she says.
“It was only them and us there. In an attempt to calm things down, I started making jokes. I thought this might make them go away. Chris even pretended she was sick, but they kept on harassing us, throwing us coins and becoming more enthusiastic about it.”
“The next thing I know is that Chris is in the middle of the bus fighting with them,: she continues. “On an impulse, I went over there only to find her face bleeding and three of them beating her up. The next thing I know is I’m being punched. I got dizzy at the sight of my blood and fell back. I don’t remember whether or not I lost consciousness. Suddenly the bus had stopped, the police were there and I was bleeding all over. Our stuff was stolen as well. I don’t know yet if my nose is broken, and I haven’t been able to go back to work, but what upsets me the most is that VIOLENCE HAS BECOME A COMMON THING.”
BBC News reports Scotland Yard is investigating and examining CCTV footage.
“There were 2,308 homophobic hate crimes across London in 2018, compared with 2014 when 1,488 were recorded, according to the Met Police’s crime dashboard,” the BBC adds.
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